Five things we learnt from Chelsea vs Barcelona

Five things we learnt from Chelsea vs Barcelona

1/5
Perhaps Mourinho was right about Hazard after all

There were more than a few eyebrows raised when he suggested Hazard has now overtaken Cristiano Ronaldo as one of the best players in the world.
Given that Ronaldo scored 61 goals to Hazard's 19 last term, it seemed a rather bold statement to make.
But Hazard showed in the 10th minute against Barcelona, who were not at full strength, just why he is one of the most exciting players in the world.
Picking up the ball 35 yards out, he glided past four players with consummate ease, jinking one way, rolling the ball cleverly under his foot the other before rolling the ball cooly into the bottom corner.
It was a goal worthy of a more grand occasion but social media soon exploded into life in response.
The Belgian didn't stop there, sparking roars of approval from a packed out FedEx Field. Perhaps the only negative for Chelsea is you can imagine the Barcelona hierarchy taking note.

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2/5
Love him or hate him - Suarez is a big miss for the Premier League

Chelsea, and Branislav Ivanovic in particular, have more reasons than most to be glad Luis Suarez is no longer cutting his teeth in the Premier League anymore.
But putting aside his disciplinary problems, this is a footballer that would grace any team in the world.
Liverpool fans know that better than anyone and it must have been hard for them to be watching the likes of Rickie Lambert last season instead.
Cesc Fabregas told Standard Sport earlier in the day that Suarez, along with Lionel Messi and Neymar, is part of the best front three he's ever seen.
Messi and Neymar have yet to start pre-season training, so Suarez was on his own. But he was still a constant threat.
The Uruguay star had already brought out a series of saves from Thibaut Courtois, before levelling the scores with a strike almost as good as Hazard's.
One dummy fooled Gary Cahill, Cesar Azpilicueta and Courtois into going the wrong way and then he cooly lobbed the ball into the net.
It's just a shame that the Premier League won't get to see such genius on a regular basis anymore.

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3/5
No goals for Diego Costa and a possible injury scare

It is early days, but it has not been a good pre-season for Chelsea's top scorer from last season so far.
Costa has yet to find the net in three appearances and his finishing was way off here.
None more so than when Fabregas played him through on goal in the first half and the shot was sent well wide of the Barcelona goal.
A nice move involving Hazard and Fabregas also ended with the Spain international sending a shot high and wide.
Costa's evening then took a turn for the worse when he suddenly sat himself on the ground in the 59th minute and once play was stopped, walked straight down the tunnel to get some treatment.
It will spark concern over his fitness, especially as the first match of Chelsea's season is just 10 days away.

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4/5
Kenedy looks like a Mourinho player already

Officially the Brazilian hasn't completed his £6.3m move to Chelsea yet, but he has been given special permission to join the tour by Fluminense while the final paperwork is sorted out.
It is expected the winger will leave the club on loan once everything is finalised, but he was given a chance to impress for 45 minutes here against the Champions League holders.
The 19-year-old demonstrated plenty of pace and work-rate during a promising first half performance, yet one key intervention showed why Mourinho will like him as a player.
Barcelona were breaking clear on the counter attack and Kenedy was the last man standing.
Not only was he demonstrating his willing to track back, he then showed strength to ease his opponent off the ball and relieve the danger.
Mourinho loves nothing more than wingers who are prepared to do the ugly side of the game and that incident would not have gone unnoticed.

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5/5
Chelsea's defence a concern?

As far as Mourinho is concerned, there are no such things as friendlies - he wants to win every match.
This one provided extra motivation given it was against Barcelona, a team he clashed with, sometimes literally, during his three years in charge of bitter rivals Real Madrid.
Normally Chelsea's defence is the strongest part of any Mourinho team, but it has looked porous on tour.
Of course players are still working on their fitness, while substitutions break up a team's rhythm.
Still, Chelsea go into the Community Shield on Sunday against Arsenal having failed to keep a clean sheet in their three games so far.
New York Red Bulls, Paris Saint Germain and now Barcelona have all been able to capitalise on uncharacteristic errors to net seven times between them.

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Mourinho said: "The lady is a bit confused, with all respect. I'm not laughing, because her husband went to Chelsea to replace Roberto Di Matteo and he went to Real Madrid and replaced Carlo Ancelotti.

"The only club where her husband replaces me was at Inter Milan, where in six months he destroyed the best team in Europe at the time.

"And for her also to think about me and to speak about me, I think the lady needs to occupy her time and if she takes care of her husband's diet she will have less time to speak about me."

Mourinho and Benitez have been at loggerheads for a decade, with their rivalry intensifying after Liverpool knocked out Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final in 2005 with Luis Garcia's 'ghost goal'.

The Chelsea boss has never got over it and has regularly made comments at Benitez's expense.

He also derided the latter's achievement of winning the Europa League during his six-month reign at Chelsea in the 2012-13 campaign.